Soul Eater Shorts
by WallofIllusion
Summary: A series of unconnected 100-word drabbles in different genres. Spoilers are marked.
1. Connection

Hello hello. Sometimes I have teeny tiny cute conversations in my head, and to give them validation I write them in _exactly_ 100 words. That's how all of these came to be. Of course, that's exactly 100 words by MS Word's count, which is different from fanfiction dot net's, but what can you do... (I know you're anti-url, ff.n, but let me write your own url in my fic description! Geez!)  
Enjoy!

* * *

Marie was making dinner when, unexpectedly, Stein came up and wrapped his arms around her waist. In a moment she felt his wavelength settle into tune with her own. She touched his arm. "What's wrong? Are you having an attack?"

He lowered his head into the hollow between her neck and shoulders. "No," he said, "not really." But he didn't withdraw, didn't disentangle his soul. After a minute: "You have such a nice wavelength, Marie."

She gave a soft chuckle. "Are you jealous?"

Stein's embrace tightened slightly. He laughed, too, but there was a painful bitterness to it. "Yeah, very."


	2. A Matter of Pride and Possession

They passed in the hall and stopped as if by mutual agreement.

"Do you make a habit of stealing that which belongs to others?" Stein asked.

"I made a special case for you." A comfortable smirk decorated the girl's lips. "I'd ask if you're in the habit of dissecting those who trust you, but as Spirit is—sorry, _was_—the only person to fall into that category, I suppose I already know the answer to that."

Stein leered and watched her smile fall a notch. "Stick your nose where it doesn't belong again and I'll cut it off for you."

* * *

I just have this feeling that the two _hate_ each other.  
(Snarky comment removed pending more information~)


	3. Inadequacy

Manga canon only. Takes place during chapter 40.

* * *

He's not really sure what exactly to do here, but he holds her because he feels he should.

He says, "I can't bring him back to life without his soul."

She nods. She knows that.

"I just want you to know that I would, if I could."

She clutches his shirt front and sniffles. "I know, Stein."

He doesn't tell her that it's partially a matter of pride and of BJ's usefulness. Those things are true. But there's also a tiny, precious part of him that wants to bring BJ back just because Marie doesn't deserve to cry like this.


	4. Mother and Child

Spoilers chapter 17/episode 20.  
I have no opinion on Crona's gender. I chose "her" because it sounds better in the sentence. If you were told by a scanslation or fansub that its gender was one or the other, they were lying to you for the sake of easy pronouns. Love, WOI

* * *

Something tugged at Medusa, pulling her out of a comfortable sleep. She rolled away and curled up. Despite storing up her energy for today, she'd expended too much magic in the surgery. It would be worth it in the end—without a doubt—but for now she needed to recover.

"Mommy?" The tugging returned.

"Go away. Mommy's tired."

"Mommy…" There was urgency in Crona's voice.

Medusa looked at her child. "What?"

Crona sniffled, scratching at the bandages that held the IV needle in. A drop of blood, glistening black, trailed from her nose into her mouth. "Mommy, I feel funny…"


	5. Love? Don't make me laugh

Proper title: "Love? Don't make me laugh." This was drawn to accompany a picture I drew, which can be seen on my deviantart at: wallofillusion. deviantart . c om/#/d2qqxmh (Make all the spaces go away.)

Also, this has absolutely no timeframe. Oh well.

* * *

"Medusa..." Her name slipped out between heavy breaths, between pounding heartbeats that tried to remind him that he should not be doing this. But he couldn't get his thoughts to move in a straight line. She kept leaning back as he crept forward, submitting to him. One of her snakes curled around him, and he felt a flicker of magic as its tongue brushed his cheek.

"Stein," she murmured, smiling, and his mind caught on her voice and the light in her eyes. "If you want me and everything I stand for, all you have to do is claim me."


	6. Dreadful Medicine

"Can I ask you something?"

Marie blushes slightly, and she doesn't _quite_ meet his eyes. He nods his permission.

"What're you thinking when you laugh like that?"

The memories aren't exactly clear, but somehow he digs an answer out of his mind: "Usually, 'Shit, why am I laughing? I've gotta stop.'"

She makes a strange face. Clearly, she's not sure how to react.

"You can laugh," Stein tells her.

So she does, a nervous little giggle. "That was a joke," she says, relieved.

"No." He gives a sick smile. No, definitely not a joke. "But it's still pretty funny, right?"


	7. Loyalty

Spoilers for... um, chapter 43 maybe? I think that's the one?

* * *

"Jackie, I don't think I can ever turn you into a Deathscythe."

Jackie pulls her knees up to her chest and nods. "I kinda figured. It's okay."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize."

"But it's _stupid_." The meister-witch's face twists bitterly. "I'm sure there are plenty of witches who would kill another witch, no sweat, and I _do_ believe that there are witches who need to be killed. Just who do I think I'm being loyal to?"

"Yourself," Jackie says softly, firmly, allowing no argument. "You can't hurt one of your own kind. That's what it means to be a DWMA student."


	8. A Conversation, of Sorts

So, dA user ooglybooglyism drew a picture (http : /fav.m e/d2yvaan, take out the spaces) of Medusa and Stein talking to each other and wondered what they were talking about. So I was all like, "Must... answer... rhetorical... question..."

* * *

"I see eyes, eyes in ice, in aisles, the ides of March, the tides are parched, he hides but there's nowhere left. He screams you scream we all scream when eyes scream…"  
"You're not making any sense," Medusa cut him off. He looked at her, and for a moment there was _something_ in his gaze, but then—  
His head rolled back and he laughed towards the sky. The sound was impossible to get used to, no matter how many times she heard it.  
"Stupid witch," he said fondly, and gave another little giggle. "Whose fault do you think that is?"


	9. Not Quite Perfume

Takes place before the anniversary ball. Obviously.

* * *

"You smell strange."

Medusa glared at Stein. "Is that your idea of civil conversation?"

"It's familiar, almost. I want to say… blood?"

The look in his eyes almost made her stumble over her ready answer: "Considering the state some of the students come back in, I hardly think that's surprising."

"But that's not it. Is it, Nurse Medusa?" His leer grew. "Because it's not _quite_ blood I smell. There's something a bit off about it. It smells unnatural somehow."

As she fought to hide the chill running down her back, a look of boyish teasing replaced his leer.

"It's nice."


	10. Old and Wise

The sudden sound of an explosion broke Medusa's concentration. Annoyed, she looked out the window. Eruca was outside, dancing in the wreckage left by her bomb and humming a little song. She halted abruptly at Medusa's glare.

"Sorry," she called. "Um… pest control?"

Medusa shook her head and turned away.

"Lady Medusa…?" Crona was still sitting patiently on the gurney, her sleeve pulled up her arm in preparation. "Is something wrong?"

Medusa shook her head again in answer, and at the rogue smile that had formed on her own face. She readied the needle. "Oh, to be young and foolish."


	11. Subtlety

"I'd love to torture you."

A smile creeps up the hallucination's face. "Don't be silly. If you were the torturer, I'd be having too much fun to reveal anything. Besides, you lack the subtlety to torture; you just want to rip things apart. That yields dead subjects, not talkative ones."

"I'm not subtle? Do you think I learned to hack limbs off in medical school?"

"Surely _causing_ pain wasn't in the curriculum?"

"Lack of anesthesia makes quite a difference."

"I know that."

Oh. Of course she did.

She smiled. "We are far too similar for you to hurt me, Stein."


	12. A Difference of Opinion

Language warning. This is set when they're teens.

* * *

"Shall we go?" Spirit asked, turning towards Stein.

But Stein was frowning slightly. "What does it feel like?"

"What, eating a soul? It's kind of like…"

"No," Stein interrupted. "I mean going through their bodies like that, cutting through bone and muscle so smoothly, grazing their organs, being _inside_—"

He stopped when he saw the look of horror on Spirit's face.

"Gross! Eaugh! What the hell, Stein, I just ate! Why would you…" He shuddered and turned away. "C'mon, we're going home."

He missed the look of dark resentment Stein sent at his back. _…Pathetic. What a fucking _waste_._


End file.
